]]>Join us this week on a special Unscripted podcast with the CEO of IERA – Hamza Tzortzis.

He gives us the lowdown on his highs and his lows over the years, on humanity, living here in the West, love, compassion, intelligence, wisdom, humility and how the call to Islam should be transformed and so much more.

]]>There is an Arabic expression along the lines of, “aslamat Sāra, lā zād al-Muslimūn wa lā qalat al-nasārā”, which literally means: “Sara has converted (to Islām), neither increasing Muslims nor reducing Christians”. The expression is sometimes said when a person leaves Islām, as an idiomatic “who cares?”. In any case, it is not an entirely sensible expression. Entering or leaving Islām is not a matter to be taken lightly.

However in recent times, where boasting about leaving Islām is construed by pseudo-Islamic mannequins (called ‘think-tank’) as ‘very brave’,[1] even in a society beleaguered by Islamophobia and piled on anti-Islamic rhetoric, maybe there is some space for an aslamat Sāra attitude. So, if that bob of Īmān shakes at the news of pop stars no longer ‘convinced’ by an afterlife, below are seven points to help it settle.

I. Islām does not depend on its adherents, unlike other faiths and systems

Islām is not a reality that needs human validation. It is a reality that transcends above the universe and governs everything within it. In fact, there was a time when a single Muslim was called the ‘community’ all by himself,

The message stood firm against the odds. Ibrāhīm ‘alayhi al-Salām did not see his singleness as an existential threat to the message of Islam as he knew his Lord was preserving it. Islam survived through the 11th century Crusades, the 13th century Mongolian campaigns and the 15th century Spanish inquisition. Numerous political doctrines, religions and strains died out with the demise of their adherents, save unadulterated, Abrahamic monotheism that remarkably survives.

In fact, there will be a time when there will be no Muslim on the face of the earth at all. This will come, as far as the age of the earth goes, moments before its end (the Day of Judgement). But the non-existence of Muslims who believe in the afterlife prior to the Day of Judgement will not stop it from happening. Even without adherents, the universal system of Islām endures.

II. Islām’s ‘Golden Era’ was when its adherents were fewest in number

Having many people on your side cannot be a bad thing, and Islām far from disparages huge numbers. In fact, the Prophet (sall Allāhu ‘alayhī wa sallam) says:

“Marry the one who is fertile and loving, for I will boast of your great numbers.”[3]

But quality has always been centralised in the few. It was a few who followed Nūh ‘(‘alayhī al-Salām), a few who crossed the river with Tālūt to meet Jālūt’s forces, and a few who were persecuted alongside ‘Īsā the son of Mary (‘alayhimā al-Salām). The Battle of Badr is by agreement the greatest battle of Islām, yet prior to the confrontation, the Prophet (sall Allāhu ‘alayhī wa sallam), supplicated,

“O Allāh! Bring about what You promised for me. O Allāh! If you destroy this band of adherents to Islām, you will not be worshiped alone upon the earth…”[4]

In fact, ‘many’ has almost never been mentioned in the Qur’ān except with a form of dispraise. “Many of the People of the Book would love it if they could make you revert to being disbelievers after you have become believers.”[7] “Many of mankind are deviators.”[8] “Surely many people are heedless of Our Signs.”[9] The list goes on.

It was when the ‘Ummah’ comprised of handfuls, not hundreds of millions, when the empires of the east and west bowed and surrendered. It was that small collective who heard the Prophet (sall Allāhu ‘alayhī wa sallam) saying to them:

“The best of mankind are my generation, then those that follow them, then those that follow them.”[10]

III. Our happiness when people convert is for them, not for us

Seeing someone ‘take their Shahādah’ is extraordinary. We push and shove to set our eyes on the spectacle. But in many cases, we may never see the brother or sister again. And though seeing someone embrace Islām often increases or reinforces our own Īmān, our happiness is primarily unselfish. It is for them. It is their past slate that is wiped clean, their life that has taken a momentous turn for the better and their hereafter that has been salvaged. It is their ability to see past the centuries of sustained myths and propaganda required to keep them away from the otherwise irresistible Islām in the first place, that we admire about them.

We love it when people become Muslim not just because we desire to see in them what we failed to see in ourselves, but because one more person has saved themselves from hell and absolved us from their complaints on the Day of Resurrection. In fact, materialistically, there is little in it for us but a duty to give long lessons in Ghusl and Wudū’, along with a thought of that ‘student’ one day replacing us for our inadequacies, as Allāh says:

“If you turn away, He will replace you with a people other than yourselves and they will not be like you.”[11]

Seeing someone leave only hurts for precisely the opposite; that they failed at a hurdle, sold themselves short and flushed a long life down the drain; that they gave precedence to transient gratification over long-term success. It reminds us of the statement of Hudhayfah b. al-Yamān:

“The thing I fear most for this Ummah is that they give preference to what they see over what they know; and are thus misguided without realising.”[12]

IV. Challenges garble out the worst Muslims

Exams separate the best students from the worst. Difficulties bring out the real nature of people, those who can weather the storm and those who crack under the strain. The idea that leaving Islām is a ‘very brave’ thing to do is simply farcical. British Muslims face more than a thousand hate crimes a year, are lambasted by some 500 posts a day and are three times less likely to be considered for a job.[13]

Most challenges and difficulties in the world today are faced by Muslims. Muslim vilification has become the international media’s staple diet and the fad of new-age populists. ‘Very brave’ is to be a self-assured Muslim, not someone who acquiesces and attempts to join the ranks of the “dominant” race or class.

The Quraysh of Makkah thought they had outsmarted the Prophet (sall Allāhu ‘alayhī wa sallam) when, in the Tready of Hudaybiyah, they stipulated that Makkah-bound leavers from Madīnah will not be sent back to the Prophet. They forgot that when weathering a challenge, a leaver is precisely who you could do without. On another occasion, in the Battle of Uhud, a contingent of soldiers led by the hypocrite Abdullāh b. Ubay b. Salūl left the Prophet and the companions, heading home. Later, during the campaign of Tabūk, the hypocrites stayed behind altogether. But rather than outlining the vulnerability of what became a much smaller contingent of Muslims headed into the depths of Roman lands, Allāh said:

“If they had gone out among you, they would have added nothing to you but confusion.”[14]

They say “sometimes more is less”. The very word ‘Fitnah – yuftan’ comes from applying heat to an ore to bring out a base metal, removing impurities and purifying the precious metal. Like when Allāh says,

“Do people imagine that they will be left to say, ‘We have Īmān,’ and will not be tested (yuftanūn)?”[15]

It is this heat which particularly knocks off those Muslims sitting on the fence, very ready to blame their ineptitude on their dwindling religiosity, neither addressing the real causes of their failures nor ending up winning anything in the hereafter.

“Among the people there is one who worships Allāh right on the edge. If good befalls him, he is content with it, but if a trial befalls him, he reverts to his former ways, losing both this world and the Next World. That is indeed sheer loss.”[16]

Leavers of Islām should know full well that they leave behind nothing but a purer base, a surer assembly, and a firmer, better bonded core, ready to weather whatever dreary day or turn of fortune awaits ahead.

V. Being Muslim is not supposed to be a walk in the park

Altruism, charity, nurturing children properly, checking on your neighbour, resisting temptations, speaking out against wrong—the list goes on—is what a Muslim is first, and is hard work second. Islām is neither a fashion, mere identity, nor a material possession that assents to any of our ways and desires. It was sent to guide to what we know, and to what the distortions of an era have made us forget.

Some leave Islām after feeling they bit off more than they can chew. But what is better, to find a truth you voluntarily chose to follow difficult, or to capitulate to the very lusts that you left behind? Every Muslim finds one thing or another difficult, but why do some assume that Allāh’s greatest commodity, Paradise, is cheap and easy to attain?

A champion does not enter a ring intending to throw in the towel but insists on getting up after every knockout. Allāh says:

“O Mankind! You are toiling laboriously towards your Lord, but meet Him you will!”[17]

We boast about ‘keeping our noses in the grindstone’, ‘blood, sweat and tears’ and ‘burning the candle at both ends’[18] to save for a package holiday that could turn out boring and stressful. Why then do we think we can pioneer Islām, around our own tastes and fashions when it is our deliverer to eternal bliss and ultimate enjoyment?

VI. The majority of leavers do not leave Islām on ideological grounds

History and the contemporary have shown that there are no ideologies that can rationally compete with Islām. Islamophobes will happily jibe, mock and defame, but come a civilised debate and what a pity.

As such, the majority of leavers, observably leave due to some sort of bad experience either unrelated to the ideological framework of Islām, or fail to rationalise an Islamic teaching with a different ideology, a cultural norm, practice or premeditated craving of their own, many a time carnal. Those will validate what they long craved by ‘reforming’ Islām to follow suit or raise doubts about the religion itself. Let us get real, was it 15-billion-year-old observable evidence that made that leaver question the Qur’ān’s account of creation, or a new boyfriend?

The Shaytān knew it was Allāh’s order he disobeyed but wanted to validate a premeditated superiority complex, paying attention to what he thought validated that complex, “I am better than him, You (Allāh) made me from fire, and made him from clay.” But he (conveniently) paid no attention to the fact the order to prostrate came from Allāh himself. His intellectual gaffs were because he had no ideological leg to stand on. The reason he left was because his continued arrogance blighted his ability to be true to his fault of refusing to prostrate in the first place.

It is useful to remember this hierarchy of disagreement when considering the bulk of the attacks levelled against Islām’s foundations.

VII. Being a Muslim is not a favour to anyone but yourself

Imagine if I were to give you a pen. The following week I call asking for your help towing my car, “because I gave you a pen”, then I text you needing help with my shopping “because I gave you a pen”. Soon, I will find my pen in an envelope with a note reading “with thanks.” Imagine then if the receiver—you—was instead the person demanding favours and gratitude. It is madness. Imagine then if the gift was far better than a pen—Islām itself.

Some Bedouins embraced Islām near the 10th year of the Hijrah, long after the severe persecution of Makkah, the Hijrah, the Battle of Badr, Uhud, the startling Battle of the Trench and the testing pledge to avenge the blood of ‘Uthman rady Allahu ‘anhu they took with the Prophet under the tree (al Ridwan). Despite those latter Bedouins taking part in nothing of this, they felt that their Islām deserved the appreciation of the Messenger (sall Allāhu ‘alayhī wa sallam), forgetting that it is them that ought to have shown gratitude to Allāh for His inimitable gift that came to them on a silver platter in far more comfortable days:

“They think they have done you a favour by becoming Muslims! Say: ‘Do not consider your Islām a favour to me. No indeed! It is Allāh who has favoured you by guiding you to Īmān, if you are telling the truth.’”[19]

Likewise, leavers should know that nobody felt that your Islām was disruptive, ground-breaking or a monumental rift in a Da’wah that is divinely preserved and administered by men and women who struggle against desires and weaknesses, for your departure to be disruptive.

A person’s Islām does not benefit Allāh for their departure to harm Him. Likewise nothing that Allāh obligated upon us benefits Allāh in the slightest. He was the Almighty, the Wise, the All-Powerful before everything in existence and our obedience did not increase Him in any of this.

Any individual obligation is likewise an obligation on the rest of society. Just as Allāh commanded you not to steal and to lower your gaze, He likewise commanded millions of others. So who ends up benefiting? You yourself. You, being the beneficiary—whether you realise it or not—of what is Halāl and what is Harām is enough a payment. So Allāh, through His rulings gave you and then rewarded you on top of what He gave.

When the messengers called their people to Allāh’s worship, did their people generally accept or reject their call? They rejected it. Almost all the prophets we have been informed about, however, told their people: “I do not ask you for it any payment. My payment is only from the Lord of the worlds.”[20] This is despite knowing well that their people were less than willing to pay for something they rejected to begin with! It is as if the prophets are telling them, ‘Since I am calling you to what is entirely your benefit, I would otherwise instinctively deserve to be paid for it, but the magnitude of that benefit I am bringing you is so great that none, save Allāh, can pay for it.’[21]

Islām is an inimitable privilege and blessing, and supreme way of life and salvation that attracts for every leaver, thousands of entrants. What is ‘supreme’, stays so, even if a person is as deprived and naïve as to throw it away for whatever petty return. Likewise, what is already supreme cannot be made better by its followers. It is entirely a privilege to them that they should fear losing, the same way as they would fear to be thrown into fire.

“Our Lord, do not make our hearts swerve aside after You have guided us. And give us mercy from You. You are the Ever-Giving.”[22]

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/theology/seven-messages-for-those-who-leave-islam/feed/240150Fasting: a Revolt Against the Modern Conditionhttps://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/fasting-a-revolt-against-the-modern-condition/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/fasting-a-revolt-against-the-modern-condition/#respondThu, 07 Jun 2018 16:24:40 +0000https://www.islam21c.com/?p=34231In 1960 Tunisia's secularist president Bourguiba asked the esteemed scholar Ibn ʿĀshūr to issue a fatwa to abandon fasting for its impact on the economy. Ibn ʿĀshūr went on public radio and responded…

]]>The long-standing and late Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, who reigned over Tunisia for almost three decades, represents but one of the encroachments of the modern liberal order in the Muslim world. In the year 1960, as part of an ongoing secularisation effort, Habib Bourguiba declared that fasting in Ramaḍān hampered economic productivity and asked Muhammad b. ʿĀshūr, an esteemed scholar of the time, to issue a fatwa to justify the abandonment of the practice. Ibn ʿĀshūr went on public radio and responded:

“Prescribed for you is fasting” and announced, “God has spoken the truth and Bourguiba has spoken falsehood”.[1]

This incident between Ibn ʿĀshūr and the secular elitist Habib Bourguiba came to represent a lofty illustration of the challenges that fasting – as a praxis – poses to the modern condition. In reminiscing over this incident, I was spurred to ask: how are we to make sense of this practice in an age of liberal hegemony – an act which is seemingly anomalous to the logic of economic productivity and progress?

In what follows, I suggest that fasting, properly understood, is not a private act of liturgy. It is, in its essence, a transformative process of realignment and cultivation of the ‘self’ which culminates in what the Qur’ān refers to as taqwa, or God-consciousness.

“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may attain God consciousness.”[2]

Fasting, then, is a means towards a more grandiose ends. It also represents a revolt against the modern condition, in that whilst the modern age breeds the homo economicus (the economic man), fasting cultivates a radically different homo islamicus (the Islamic man). By consciously abstaining from food, drink and sex, man becomes conscious that he is ultimately in need of such sustenance and thus recognises his own limitations.

Muslim apologists, beset by liberal orthodoxy, have come to equivocate fasting with liberation; the liberation of the ‘self’ which conforms to liberalism’s self-declared desire to liberate the individual to achieve full individual autonomy. Liberation is not an exclusively modern concept. Liberation in ancient Greek and Roman political philosophy was grounded in the “cultivation of virtue and self-rule as the key correctives to the tyrannical temptation”. It included the virtues of “temperance, wisdom, moderation, and justice” through habituation in both “law and custom”.[3] Liberalism “rejected [the] requirement of human self-limitation. It displaced first the idea of a natural order to which humanity is subject and later the notion of human nature itself”.[4] Liberty became the ability to act upon one’s desires, unrestrained by those authorities that stand outside of the deified individual.

Consequently, the apologist fails to understand how liberalism, in its theology and practice, represents but one manifestation of a perennial struggle between a self-conscious nafs aware of its own contingency and a self-deceiving and transgressive nafs unable to come to terms with its contingency and so declares itself to be Absolute. Fasting is as much a reminder that the homo islamicus is not an extension of its desire but also a reminder that we are bound by those limitations, a reminder of our contingency. Whereas liberalism celebrates individual autonomy, one could argue that in the Qur’anic narrative absolute autonomy is the primordial characteristics of the Tāghūt: the being whose autonomy amounts to excess, transgression against a divinely-ordained natural order.

The apologist then not only revivifies the mythos of individual autonomy but also creates a new mythos; fasting-as-individual-liberation. The Qur’anic prescription of fasting, however, is not a realisation or cultivation of individual autonomy, or the realisation of one’s potential autonomy. It is the radical opposite; the rejection of such autonomy. What can represent a greater rejection of self-interest more than the abstinence from food, water and sex? In a secular age characterised by the subversion of the ‘sacred’ to the ‘secular’ and a preoccupation with worldliness, fasting represents the subversion of the most manifest and basic features of the ‘secular’: the flesh. This need not mean that fasting is not an act of liberation but rather a form of liberation with a telos fundamentally different from that of liberalism, that is to say, fasting as a means of recognising our own limitations and not our individualism

Ramaḍān is also the month of the Qur’ān. It calls the believer to renew their awareness and appreciation of the Qur’ān’s tanzīl i.e. its being revealed, divine-in-its-origin. Such renewed cognisance challenges the modern commitment to ‘self-interested’ and unbound rationality. In giving mankind access to the manifest will of God, the pursuit of unbound rationality that is divorced from divine guidance, becomes a transgression against one’s true interests. It also reaffirms the contingency of not only our nafs but the intellect.

As such, Ramaḍān is a radical revolt against the homo economicus and consequently, the modern condition. I say radical because fasting is not merely a revolt against one single expression of the modern condition, such as consumerism, hedonism or the fetishisation of capital. Those expressions are but symptoms of the worldview that man is a homo economicus. In fasting, we commit to an act of disobedience against a liberal order. We shun the notion of a ‘sacred’ individual autonomy; a god of the ‘self’ – the “I” (or nafs). In abstaining from what Aristotle referred to as the two most basic elemental desires of man; food and sex we achieve god-consciousness, or taqwa, which in turn reminds one that Absolute autonomy belongs only to the Creator, a consciousness of one’s own contingency.

There is something to be seen in fasting as a communal and global practice in an epoch characterised by the “god of Capital” and liberal hegemony; it is an expression of mass dissensus. In an age marked by the retreat of liberalism and the resurgence of post-liberal visions, the relevance of Muslims will depend on our ability to reclaim Islām as a counter-narrative, a liberatory worldview and movement that posits a formidable challenge to liberal theology and the excesses of the modern condition. Ramaḍān can serve as the starting-point for just that.

6You who have faith! If a deviator brings you a report, scrutinise it carefully in case you attack people unwittingly and later deplore what you have done.

“You who have faith!” having believed in Allāh and His Messenger “If a deviator” someone who has stepped outside the bounds of the Sharīʿah, “brings you a report,scrutinise it” investigate and establish the truth “carefully” rather than accepting it unthinkingly and hastily believing it without careful forethought and investigation “in case you attack people” treating them coarsely and harshly: the consequences of ignorance (jahl) “unwittingly” without knowledge (ʿilm), patience and discernment (ḥilm) “and later deplore what you have done,” after seeing the damage you have wrought.

Due propriety with the Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is not enough to establish a strong society, Muslims must act with propriety amongst themselves as well, this is the only way that brotherhood in faith and love can be engendered. Hence, the narrative now moves to correct some of the most harmful traits present in people when dealing with each other in general. Reports should be verified, the Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) should be referred to and his judgment should be followed, even where it does not accord to one’s own desires. False reports bring about animosity and can upheave society itself.

This is the third time in this Sūrah that Allāh address the Muslims with the term of faith, yet again highlighting that what follows the vocative is something we should pay attention to and implement in our lives.

The word fāsiq used in this āyah is the opposite of ʿādil (just). It signifies deviation from the straight path and someone who has left the boundaries of the Sharīʿah.[1] Ibn Zayd said that fāsiq refers to a habitual liar (kadhdhāb). Abū’l-Ḥasan al-Warrāq said it was someone who openly sins. Ibn Ṭāhir said it refers to someone who has no shame of Allāh.[2] These are all case examples of the essential meaning of the word.

There are two recitations of this āyah: one which uses the word tabayyanū and the other which uses the word tathabbatū in its place.[3] The meaning of the first would be an order to clarify the issue and the meaning of the second would be a command to establish the truth. Both readings have the same meaning.[4]

There was a reason that this āyah was revealed. Al-Walīd b. ʿUqbah b. Abū Muʿayṭ was sent by Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) to Banū Muṣṭaliq to collect their zakāt payments. In their excitement and eagerness to receive an envoy of Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), they came out in their crowds, and some rode out to meet him. But when Walīd saw them from afar Shayṭān planted a suspicion in his heart that they had come out to kill him. There was enmity between the two previously and so he turned and beat a retreat. Returning to Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) he told him, based on his own assumptions, that the tribe had apostated and refused to give the zakāt. This angered Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and the Muslims; but while he was deciding if he should launch a military expedition against them, a delegation from the tribe arrived at Ẓuhr time and prayed behind him. They then approached him and said, ‘We take refuge with Allāh from His anger and the anger of His Messenger.’ They explained that they had gone out to receive the envoy happily and then saw him at a distance turning back and, fearing that something may have happened to cause Allāh’s displeasure, they themselves came to investigate what had happened. They remained in discussion until ʿAṣr time and then Allāh revealed this verse excusing them.[5]

Walīd was therefore referred to as a fāsiq, i.e. a liar (kādhib) in this case,[6] but by way of warning and stressing the possible outcome of such an act. This is because he was a Companion and therefore a man of justice and integrity.[7] So what is emphasised here is the danger of rushing to a conclusion in this way and then passing it on.

Spreading rumours and gossip is incredibly dangerous. It destroys reputations, breaks down relationships and can upheave society itself. We are living in times where such acts have become very common, where people are losing basic decency and chivalry, and where the tabloid press thrives on such news. Therefore, the believer should receive such gossip carefully, first verifying the truth of it before deciding if there is any benefit in passing it on; and in most cases there is not. In the Qurʾān we find that Allāh harshly critiques those who spread rumours without verification.

Whenever news of any matter comes to them, whether concerning peace or war, they spread it about; if they had referred it to the Messenger and those in authority among them, those seeking its meaning would have found it out from them.[8]

And there is severe warning for those who agitate the community by spreading false news

You who have faith, be careful when you go to fight in Allāh’s Way, and do not say to someone who offers the salām, ‘You are not a believer,’ out of desire for the chance gains of this life. – Allāh has plenty of gains for you. You yourself were in the same position but Allāh was gracious to you. So be careful: Allāh is fully aware of what you do.[10]

Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said, “Deliberation and forethought should go in everything except for deeds pertaining to the Hereafter.”[11] “Deliberation is from Allāh and haste is from Shayṭān.”[12]

Both the words fāsiq and nabaʾ in this āyah are indefinite nouns and therefore treated as unconditional (muṭlaq),[13] i.e. any fāsiq who comes with any news should be verified.

It is interesting to note that Allāh does not tell us to reject their narration without condition, no matter what; rather He asks us to investigate, because there is the possibility that it be true.[14] Indeed, Ibn al-Qayyim points that it is possible that a fāsiq be truthful and take pride in telling the truth, and his deviation lie in another area. We should be nuanced in our analysis of people and not fall for stereotype and prejudice.

We also learn that the report of a trustworthy individual is accepted, in general, since Allāh ordered the investigation of the reports of an open sinner.[15] Conveying something accurately and honestly is a trust, and openly sinning is a sign strongly suggesting that such a person cannot be trusted.

However, even if the person is trustworthy, his report can be rejected in certain circumstances. If there are indications that something is odd such as the reports contradicting established fact, or contradicting the reports of other trustworthy individuals, the report in question can be rejected. Even truthful people can make mistakes. One time the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) prayed Ẓuhr as two rakʿahs and then completed it with the salām. One of the Companions, nicknames Dhū’l-Yadāin, asked, ‘Messenger of Allāh, has the prayer been shortened or have you forgotten?’ The Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) first asked the others if what Dhū’l-Yadain said was correct, and after ascertaining the truth of what he said, he completed the prayer.[16] The point being that here, the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) did not unconditionally accept the report of a trustworthy individual due to the existence of external factors that gave rise to the need to investigate further.

“In case you attack people unwittingly and later deplore what you have done”

Jahālah: the opposite of ʿilm (knowledge) and ḥilm (discernment and patience), both are meant. The first in that knowledge is the direct opposite of ignorance; the second in that treating people with the opposite of ḥilm, i.e. with coarseness and harshness is a consequence of ignorance.[18]

The āyah shows us that we should avoid things that lead us to regret later on, such as the regret for sin.[19]

Also, what is prohibited in this āyah is acting on ignorance and unverified reports, it does not condemn building on ghalaba al-ẓann such as accepting the testimony of two witnesses or the opinion of a mujtahid scholar.[20]

Points of Benefit

The Muslim acts with due propriety with other Muslims

The obligation to verify and establish the truth of reports conveyed by a fāsiq

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/believers-verify-news/feed/028215How the Qur’an led to the iPhonehttps://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/how-the-quran-led-to-the-iphone/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/how-the-quran-led-to-the-iphone/#commentsTue, 15 Dec 2015 10:04:48 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=20091The Modern World’s Debt to Islām Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light Part 2: How the Justice of Islām Saved Jews and Christians Part 3: How the Qur’an led to the iPhone This series explores the astronomical impact that Islām had on the world. In the previous article we explore how the proliferation of ...

Part 3: How the Qur’an led to the iPhone

This series explores the astronomical impact that Islām had on the world. In the previous article we explore how the proliferation of Islām heralded a new era in human civilisation and development in many fields. Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice. In this article the consequences of this justice, tolerance and peaceful co-existence is brought to light. We learn of the revolutions in philosophy and science that still hold fast today and of Islām’s role in producing generations of scholars.

The consequences of justice, tolerance and peaceful co-existence

Much of Western philosophy and science finds its basis in the thoughts and teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers. In the 6th century BCE the ancient Greeks broke away from a mythological approach to understanding the world, and initiated an approach based on reason and evidence – what is today called “rational thinking”. It is defined largely by three great thinkers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In c.387 BCE Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, which helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. The Academy endured for nearly 1,000 years as a beacon of higher learning. It was closed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 529 CE in an effort by the Catholic Church to suppress the heresy of pagan thought. The Greek ancient chronicler John Malalas recorded: “During the consulship of Decius [529 CE], the Emperor issued a decree and sent it to Athens ordering that no one should teach philosophy nor interpret the laws.”[1]

Following the closure of the Greek schools of philosophy, Europe entered into a 1,000 year period of intellectual slumber. Thus the “lights went out” on rational thinking and Europe entered the Dark Ages. Indeed, Europe’s creative energies and inventiveness are acknowledged much later, only from the dawn of the “scientific revolution” in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A good example that is characteristic of this era is that of the astronomer Galileo. In 1610 he published a work which promoted heliocentrism, the idea that the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at the centre of the Solar System. Today science has confirmed that this model of the universe is correct, however at that time it conflicted with the prevailing theological belief of geocentrism. Due to its literal interpretation of the Bible, the Catholic Church held that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth. Galileo’s discoveries were met with opposition within the Catholic Church, and in 1616 the Church formally declared heliocentrism to be heretical. Heliocentric books were banned and Galileo was ordered to refrain from holding, teaching or defending heliocentric ideas. Later the Church found him “gravely suspect of heresy”, sentencing him to indefinite imprisonment. Galileo was kept under house arrest until his death in 1642.

There is a stark contrast between this intellectual slumber of Europe and activity in the Islamic world. The coming of the Qur’ān in the seventh century not only transformed Arabia but also the lands that were under the control of the Muslims. The peace and sense of security that Islamic rule brought about consequently produced one of the most successful civilisations in the history of the world. While Europe was in the Dark Ages it was the Muslims that produced some of the best known scholars. Victor Robinson, a historian of science, eloquently summed up the contrast between medieval Europe and Islamic Spain:

Europe was darkened at sunset, Cordova shone with public lamps; Europe was dirty, Cordova built a thousand baths; Europe was covered with vermin, Cordova changed its undergarments daily; Europe lay in mud, Cordova’s streets were paved; Europe’s palaces had smoke-holes in the ceiling, Cordova’s arabesques were exquisite; Europe’s nobility could not sign its name, Cordova’s children went to school; Europe’s monks could not read the baptismal service, Cordova’s teachers created a library of Alexandrian dimensions. [2]

Some examples of Muslim advances in science are the mathematician al-Khwarizmi, who played a significant role in the development of algebra. He also came up with the concept of algorithms which is why he is called the grandfather of computer science. The physician Az-Zahrawi is considered the greatest medieval surgeon and is described by many as the father of modern surgery. He made pioneering discoveries in surgical procedures and instruments, for example the material he utilised for internal stitching is still used in surgery today. The astronomer Al-Sufi made the earliest recorded observation of the Andromeda Galaxy. This was the first galaxy other than the Milky Way to be observed from Earth. The philosopher Ibn Sina is considered one of the greatest thinkers and scholars in history. He provided the first descriptions of bacterial and viral organisms. He also discovered the contagious nature of infectious diseases and introduced the concept of quarantine to limit the spread of disease. He has been so influential in medicine that he is referred to as the father of modern medicine.[3]

You may be surprised to learn that many of the scientific words and terms we use today are taken from the Arabic language; this is a legacy of the discoveries of Muslim scientists. For example, the word “algebra” comes from the Arabic word “al-jabr”, taken from the title of one of the books by the Muslim mathematician al-Khwarizmi. The word “algorithm” is taken from al-Khwarizmi’s name itself. The word “alchemy” comes almost unchanged from the Arabic “al-kimya”. One of the greatest contributions made by Arab scholars was their development of the science of astronomy. If you look at a modern star chart, you’ll find hundreds of stars whose names derive from Arabic: Altair, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Vega, Rigel and Algol, to name a few. Finally, we owe the decimal number system that we use for counting to Arab mathematicians. In fact the most common symbolic representation of numbers in the world today (1, 2, 3 etc.) are actually taken from Arabic numerals.

You may be wondering, what is it about the Qur’ān that inspired Muslims to go from the depths of ignorance of the pre-Islamic era to being leaders of the world in the sciences? Many of these scientists were excellent Islamic theologians and it was the Qur’ān which drew their attention to inquire into the natural world and showed them the path to knowledge and enlightenment:

Read! In the name of your Lord who created: He created man from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by [means of] the pen, who taught man what he did not know. [4]

These verses make up the first passage revealed to Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It is interesting that of all the things which God could have begun His revelation with, the actions of reading and writing were chosen. Notice how the very first word revealed was a commandment to “read”. Thus the Qurān attaches great importance to knowledge and education.

It is God who brought you out of your mothers’ wombs knowing nothing, and gave you hearing and sight and minds, so that you might be thankful.[5]

God created man and provided him with the tools for acquiring knowledge, namely hearing, sight and minds. Thus the Qur’ān reminds us that we should be grateful to God for these tools which give us the means to obtain knowledge.

How can those who know be equal to those who do not know? Only those who have understanding will take heed.[6]

Here the Qur’ān highlights the noble status of the one who has knowledge; they are superior to those who lack knowledge, as one who is knowledgeable has greater understanding. This encourages Muslims to continually seek knowledge.

Then do they not look at the camels – how they are created? And at the sky – how it is raised? And at the mountains – how they are erected? And at the earth – how it is spread out?[7]

The Qur’ān draws our attention to many natural phenomena by encouraging us to observe the world around us.

There truly are signs in the creation of the heavens and earth, and in the alternation of night and day, for those with understanding, who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth… [8]

Moreover this observation of the world around us should not be aimless but rather we should ponder and reflect on what we see.

If you have doubts about the revelation We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a single chapter like it– enlist whatever witnesses you have other than God– if you truly [think you can]. [9]

The concept of putting ideas to the test is encouraged by the Qur’ān. So is the use of witnesses in order to validate conclusions. It must be noted that no other religious text challenges its reader in such ways. The use of falsification tests is unique to the Qur’ān.

Let us summarise these concepts that the Qur’ān puts forward with regards to knowledge: using our senses to observe the world around us, thinking and reflecting on what we observe, putting ideas to the test, and providing witnesses to validate our conclusions. If these concepts seem familiar to you it is because they resemble the modern scientific method. Modern students of science understand that everything must be proven. You cannot make claims about scientific theories based on assumption without experimentation. The scientific method is the process by which science is carried out. It involves observing a natural phenomenon, making a hypothesis based on the observations and verifying the hypothesis by carrying out experiments. If the hypothesis turns out to be correct then it becomes a theory (a proven hypothesis). If it is not correct then further observation will be performed, the original hypothesis will be updated and the whole process will repeat itself. For example, a fun anecdote we are taught in school is that an apple fell onto the head of the scientist Sir Isaac Newton when he was sitting under a tree. Based on this observation he then came up with the hypothesis that there must be some force or attraction that makes the apple fall to the ground. He tested his hypothesis and this is how he devised the law of gravity.

Now whether or not an apple really did fall onto Sir Isaac Newton’s head is not important. What matters is that it is the scientific method which allowed him to validate his ideas about how gravity works. Now you can appreciate why this experimental approach to science is perhaps one of the greatest ideas ever conceived of. It is the basis of all scientific progress and without it we would not have devised laws of physics such as gravity. It is theories such as this that have allowed mankind to create the automobile, computer and travel into space.

You may be wondering, who came up with such an important idea? Before Islām, the ancient Greek philosophies of science were predominant in Western civilisation. The Greeks believed that knowledge should be advanced through deduction, which means that you rely on reason alone without taking evidence into consideration. The development of a scientific process resembling the modern method was developed by the 10th century Muslim scholar Ibn al-Haytham. He is regarded as the father of the scientific method and was the first scientist in history to insist that everything be proven through induction, which uses observations and experimentation to challenge previously held theories. His process involved the following stages:

Observation of the natural world.

Stating a definite problem.

Formulating a robust hypothesis.

Test the hypothesis through experimentation.

Analyse the results.

Interpret the data and draw conclusions.

Publish the findings.

Ibn al-Haytham first studied theology, the Qur’ān, and he stated that it was the Qur’ān that inspired him to study philosophy and science: “I decided to discover what it is that brings us closer to God, what pleases Him most, and what makes us submissive to His ineluctable Will.”[10]

Using his revolutionary scientific method, Ibn al-Haytham made leaps and bounds in the field of optics. In his book, The Book ofOptics, he was the first to disprove the ancient Greek idea that light comes out of the eye, bounces off objects, and comes back to the eye. He delved further into the way the eye itself works. Using dissections he was able to begin to explain how light enters the eye, is focused and is projected to the back of the eye.

The translation of The Book of Optics had a huge impact on Europe. From it, later European scholars were able to understand the way light works and devices such as eyeglasses, magnifying lenses, telescopes and cameras were developed. Without Ibn al-Haytham’s scientific method, we might still be living in a time when speculation, superstition, and unproven myths are the basis of science. It is not a stretch to say that without his ideas, the modern world of science that we know today would not exist.

The origins of European Enlightenment and Renaissance

In the thirteenth century the seeds of Muslim learning began to germinate in Europe. Thus Europe awoke from the Dark Ages and entered a new era of enlightenment known as the Renaissance. Translations of Arabic works on science were made for almost three centuries, starting from the tenth to the thirteenth century and gradually spread throughout Europe. Professor George Saliba penned a book on this very topic and stated that:

There is hardly a book on Islamic civilization, or on the general history of science, that does not at least pretend to recognize the importance of the Islamic scientific tradition and the role this tradition played in the development of human civilisation in general.[11]

Professor Thomas Arnold was of the opinion that the European Renaissance originated in Islamic Spain:

Muslim Spain had written one of the brightest pages in the history of Medieval Europe. Her influence had passed through Provence into the other countries of Europe, bringing into birth a new poetry and a new culture, and it was from here that Christian scholars received what of Greek philosophy and science they had to stimulate their mental activity up to the time of the Renaissance.[12]

The classical Greek works referenced in the above quote were lost to Europe during its Dark Ages. It was Muslim scholars who rescued these works by translating and preserving them in the Arabic language. They subsequently found their way back into Europe when they were translated from Arabic into Latin. Moreover Muslims did not just preserve them; they built upon them by studying the ancient Greek works in detail. They carried out experiments, wrote commentaries on them and corrected the theories where necessary in the form of their own independent works. A few such examples are Al-Biruni’s criticism and correction of Aristotle’s philosophy in a work called Questions and Answers; Al-Khwarizmi’s correction of Ptolemy’s geography in his work Face of the Earth; Ibn al-Haytham’s correction and refutation of Galen’s optics based upon practical experiments; Al-Khazini’s work on measures of weights and densities surpassed his Greek predecessors.[13]

In fact Europe took far more from the Muslim world than this article can do justice. Among other things: windmills, soap, perfume, sugar, irrigation, spices, universities, street lights, the paper industry, mass literacy, freedom of thought, architecture, poetry, hygiene, libraries and ceramics. New Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) in particular revolutionised the mathematics of Medieval Europe and consequently had a lasting effect on architecture. Cathedrals, castles, palaces, gardens and many more structures were built in medieval Europe by the help of Islamic Spain’s architectural techniques.

Finally, let us perform a thought experiment: if the Qur’ān had never been revealed, then what would be the likely state of the world today? Let us think this through step by step. From the Qur’ān emerged the justice of Islamic law; from that justice came peace and co-existence; with that peaceful co-existence came free intellectual activity in Muslim lands and from this freedom of literacy originated the knowledge that took Europe out of the Dark Ages and ushered in the Renaissance. Thus is it not reasonable to conclude that the modern world, with its advanced technology like the internet and mobile phones, is a direct consequence of the revelation of the Qur’ān?

This article has been taken from the book “The Eternal Challenge: A Journey Through The Miraculous Qur’an” which can be ordered and downloaded here.

Much of the source material for the book was based on research done by Adnan Rashid. His original essay, “Islam’s War on Terror”, can be accessed as a PDF here.

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/how-the-quran-led-to-the-iphone/feed/320091The Modern World’s Debt to Islamhttps://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/the-modern-worlds-debt-to-islam/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/the-modern-worlds-debt-to-islam/#commentsMon, 07 Dec 2015 11:39:16 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=19988The Modern World’s Debt to Islām Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light Part 2: How the Justice of Islām Saved Jews & Christians Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice. Pre-Islamic Arabia was a dreadful place to live in. Among the Arabs was widespread immorality. Slavery ...

Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light

Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice. Pre-Islamic Arabia was a dreadful place to live in. Among the Arabs was widespread immorality. Slavery was an economic institution. Male and female slaves were bought and sold like animals. They were the most depressed class of the Arabian society. Illiteracy was common among the Arabs, as were alcoholism and adultery. Those with power and money took advantage of the poor by charging 100 per cent interest on loans. Arabia was a male-dominated society. Men could marry any number of women. When a man died, his son “inherited” all his wives except his own mother. Women had virtually no legal status. They had no right to possess property and had little to no inheritance rights. Female infanticide was widely practiced: daughters were often buried alive. One can appreciate why this period of Arab history before the dawn of Islām is known as the period of Jāhiliya (ignorance).

Can you imagine being tasked with reforming such a society? Have a think about how long it would take one person to cure all these social ills. A lifetime? Perhaps several generations? You may even view it as an impossible task. Just to give you an idea of the scale of the challenge, let us look at an attempt in recent Western history to eradicate just one of these social ills: alcoholism. In 1920 the United States government passed a nationwide law to ban the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages for moral and medical reasons. This era is commonly known as the Prohibition.

Although the consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of the Prohibition, it subsequently increased and led to other problems such as corruption and organised crime. The law was repealed in 1933. The failure of one of the most powerful governments in the world to tackle just a single social ill should make us reflect on the Qur’ān. The Qur’ān managed to completely reform not only alcoholism, but all the social ills of Arabian society in a single generation. It took just 23 years! This was a revolution the likes of which the world has never witnessed.

Now perhaps you might be thinking to yourself, these social ills of Arabia were a result of the tribal nature of society and the harsh desert environment the Arabs dwelt in. But the fact is that even the superpowers of the world at the time, the Byzantine and Persian Empires were unjust and oppressive societies. Pope Gregory I, head of the Catholic Church and a contemporary of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), said:

What is there now, I ask, of delight in this world? Everywhere we observe strife; fields are depopulated, the land has returned to solitude…And yet the blows of Divine justice have no end, because among the blows those guilty of evil acts are not corrected.[1]

Pope Gregory was referring to the oppression and tyranny he was facing at the hands of the Germanic Lombards. He was bemoaning the pitiful condition of his world, the city of Rome. The Pope was not alone in his grief. Almost every society in the world was experiencing some oppression and injustice. Syrian Orthodox Christians were witnessing heavy persecution due to their differences with the ruling Byzantine Church. The Egyptian Coptic Church was also under the persecution of the Byzantines. Jews were on the brink of extinction at the hands of the Catholic Church in Spain.

It was against this backdrop that the Qur’ān was revealed, transforming not only Arabia but also the rest of world. One of the reasons for the revelation of the Qur’ān was to bring mankind out of this corrupt state. The Qur’ān proclaimed loud and clear:

[This is] a Book which We have revealed to you [O Muhammad], that you might bring mankind out of the darknesses into the light by permission of their Lord – to the path of the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy.[2]

Peace and justice was not only delivered to the Arabs, but the whole world reaped the fruits of this blessing from God. As we will see, the peace and justice emanating from the Islamic system produced some of the most civilised societies in the history of mankind.

How the Qur’ān brought justice to the world

Just how did the Qur’ān and early Muslims go about reforming society? This is the testimony of Ja’far b. Abī Tālib, who was a contemporary of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Here he informed the king of Abyssinia about the condition of his people and the positive change Islām had brought for them:

O King, we were an uncivilised people, worshipping idols, eating corpses, committing abominations, breaking natural ties, treating guests badly, and our strong devoured our weak. Thus we were until God sent us an apostle whose lineage, truth, trustworthiness, and clemency we know. He summoned us to acknowledge God’s unity and to worship Him and to renounce the stones and images which we and our fathers formerly worshipped. He commanded us to speak the truth, be faithful to our engagements, mindful of the ties of kinship and kindly hospitality, and to refrain from crimes and bloodshed. He forbade us to commit abominations and to speak lies, and to devour the property of orphans, to vilify chaste women. He commanded us to worship God alone and not associate anything with Him, and he gave us orders about prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. We confessed his truth and believed in him, and we followed him in what he had brought from God, and we worshipped God without associating aught with Him.[3]

The people of Arabia were transformed within a few years and they became the torch bearers of a new civilisation in the world, a civilisation that would change the course of human history forever. The Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his followers liberated not only their own people from tyranny but helped to free their neighbours. The Qur’ān stipulated that Muslims must help the oppressed, regardless of whom, and where, they are:

And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of God and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, ‘Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper!’?”[4]

The Muslims were thus charged to help the oppressed people of the world. History testifies to the fact that the early Muslims rescued the populations of many regions from a reign of tyranny. Let us take a look at just one.

Syria rescued from the Byzantine Empire

Following the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), in the reign of the second Caliph, Umar b. al-Khattāb, the Muslim armies began liberating the people of Syria from the Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire). The Christians of Syria were divided into many different denominations, such as Monophysites, Jacobites and Nestorians. Almost all of them were facing severe persecution at the hands of the ruling Byzantine Church. Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, a Jacobite patriarch from 818 to 845 CE, stated in his chronicle that the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius sent an army to expel the Muslims out of Syria and recapture the land. The Muslim forces decided to withdraw from Syrian cities in order to fight an open pitch battle with the Byzantines. Whilst pulling back, the Muslims decided, out of fairness, to refund the money which they had taken as a tribute from the Syrian Christians:

Abū ‘Ubaydah, whom Umar had put in command of the Arabs, ordered Habīb b. Maslama to return to the Emesenes the tribute which he had exacted from them with this message: “We are both bound by our mutual oaths. Now we are going to do battle with the Romans. If we return, this tribute is ours; but if we are defeated and do not return, we are absolved of our oaths.”[5]

This was an unprecedented demonstration of honesty and justice. The non-Muslims paid a tax to the Islamic state so that their lives, religion and property were protected under the rule of the Muslims. However in this case the Muslims knew that they might be unable to protect the Christians of Syria due to an imminent attack by Heraclius. Therefore it was not fair to keep the money if they could not protect the masses. Also, one must note that this was taking place in seventh century Syria where plunder, robbery and injustice were a common occurrence. The Syrians were shocked by the Muslims’ merciful conduct.

Another point worth mentioning is that this incident is narrated by a ninth century Christian source, which testifies that the Muslims did not abuse power and they did not betray the trust that the Christians had bestowed upon them. Why did the Muslims return such big sums to the Christians? Why did they not keep this wealth when they needed it the most, as they were facing a much larger army than themselves? The response to all these perplexing questions is that these Muslims obeyed God and followed His injunctions in the Qur’ān:

“God commands you [people] to return things entrusted to you to their rightful owners, and, if you judge between people, to do so with justice: God’s instructions to you are excellent, for He hears and sees everything.”[6]

The Christians of Syria preferred the Muslim rule over the oppressive Byzantines, as the Muslims had brought justice and good governance. Moreover after the Muslims defeated the Byzantine army and returned to Syria, they were welcomed back as heroes. Dionysius confirms this:

So the Arabs left Damascus and pitched camp by the river Yarmuk. As the Romans marched towards the Arab camp every city and village on their way which had surrendered to the Arabs shouted threats at them. As for crimes the Romans committed on their passage, they are unspeakable, and their unseemliness ought not even to be brought to mind…The Arabs returned, elated with their great victory, to Damascus; and the Damascenes greeted them outside the city and welcomed them joyfully in, and all treaties and assurances were reaffirmed.[7]

And that was only the beginning…

One cannot imagine the conquered welcoming the conqueror “joyfully”. Yet it happened in Syria once upon a time, and was not a rare occurrence in Islām’s history. In future articles in this series, we will see other “conquered’ peoples reacting in a similar manner—even from their own historical sources—to the peace, security and civilization that the Light of Islām brought them and their future generations. We will delve further into the modern world’s immeasurable debt to Islām including the civilizing and Enlightenment of European thought, up to even the creation of the very device you are reading this on now…

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/the-modern-worlds-debt-to-islam/feed/619988Revelation is the only source of true wisdomhttps://www.islam21c.com/theology/revelation-is-the-only-source-of-true-wisdom/
https://www.islam21c.com/theology/revelation-is-the-only-source-of-true-wisdom/#commentsTue, 24 Nov 2015 08:56:38 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=19874 It is safe to say the word “wisdom” is a little enigmatic but to define it by thinking about when we use the words “wise” or “wiser” we can unravel what it means. When we say “that was a wise decision” it is always comparative, we mean it was a “wiser” decision than another. ...

It is safe to say the word “wisdom” is a little enigmatic but to define it by thinking about when we use the words “wise” or “wiser” we can unravel what it means. When we say “that was a wise decision” it is always comparative, we mean it was a “wiser” decision than another. If we say “he is a wise old man” we mean “he is wiser than me” or “wiser than most people”. Neither of these indicate that they are infinitely wise, just comparatively “wiser”.

The world we live in is complicated to say the least. There are many factors that interact with each other. When we are faced with a choice to make we try and work through all the variables to come to the right decision, like a chess player trying to think as many moves ahead as possible. Some people with limited intellect are only able to consider a few factors before becoming confused, while some people are able to juggle a huge amount of variables, keeping them in the right proportions, weighing up their relevance to the issue; they might ponder for days before coming to a decision.

As well as the ability to judge factors, knowledge of the variables is required, some people have very limited knowledge; they are uneducated or inexperienced. While some people are very knowledgeable; very well educated on a subject, either through formal learning or experience. The “foolish” decision of course comes from the person with either limited knowledge or the limited ability to consider it. The “wiser” decision comes from the person with greater knowledge and greater ability to understand. However even the wisest person is limited by the time it takes to acquire knowledge, the limited capacity we all have to retain knowledge and the limited ability even the most intelligent person has to reason with it. Considering these things it seems that no human could ever truly be called “wise” in its infinite sense, we can only ever be relatively wiser or wisest.

We are all philosophers in a broad sense. Every time we think analytically about anything we are trying to come to the wiser decision, because we love to be wise and hate to be foolish. Those people generally labeled Philosophers and generally considered as “wise men” in the western tradition make thinking analytically their life’s work. They are all specialists: social philosophers, existentialists, humanists, pragmatists, even philosophers of philosophy. They are specialists because they are limited. No human can know everything needed to understand everything and no human is capable of that amount of comprehension. But still they get admiration for the things they say that “seem wise” that make us see something in a way we had not thought of. They are wiser than us perhaps but having spent their lives arguing, with themselves and others, can it be said they discovered any universal truth, true for all of time and every place? Philosophers can only deal with the known reality, when time moves on and more is known, or the place is changed and different things are known, the new factors would need to be considered and the results are guaranteed to be affected. Hence philosophies come in and out of fashion, they never last forever. They can never be the full picture because the full knowledge can never be known.

The Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates dedicated his life to seeking wisdom. He said “An unexamined life is not worth living”. The Socratic method was simple. By cutting away what is clearly not true he hoped to be left with what was. It turned out everything was Not True, everything could be contradicted, and knowledge of that was all he had. He famously said “the only thing I know is that I know nothing”. This is reputedly the wisest thing said by the wisest philosopher, the father of western philosophy, and it stands to reason to be true. We can never have all the knowledge needed to know everything about anything and we can never expect to be able to understand perfectly without infinite knowledge. The enduring mystery is why, instead of putting an end to philosophy, he spawned generation after generation of hopeless philosophers. For no other reason than it is our nature to think and try to understand what reality we find ourselves in, they quest onwards feeling in the darkness with full and certain knowledge of their infinite ignorance. We cannot accept our position as fools without trying to change it.

Philosophy can lead us only to knowledge of our ignorance, but this can lead us to recognising the superhuman greatness of wisdom, which in turn can lead us to recognising analytically that only the Creator can be truly wise of His creation and only through revelation can we receive the benefit of that wisdom. If we recognise wisdom in the revelations we must logically acknowledge Allāh’s existence. It also shows us the futility of ignoring Allāh’s guidance, choosing our own ideas or those of society instead and that we can never go further than what has been revealed to us by innovating in the religion.

The personal quest for wisdom is over; philosophy is redundant; there are no “wise men”. We have clear revelation from the only source of wisdom, the only wise one. The quest for the Muslim is seeking Knowledge of the revelation. The analytical brain’s function is not invention but comprehension; understanding the revelation in the context of life.

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/theology/revelation-is-the-only-source-of-true-wisdom/feed/419874Fruits of Following the Sahabahttps://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/fruits-of-following-the-sahaba/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/fruits-of-following-the-sahaba/#commentsWed, 04 Nov 2015 09:34:13 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=19652With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam). The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions Part 5 ...

]]>With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam).

The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions

Part 5

Poor are those who wish to ‘modernise’ Islām. Not only because they are seen as sell-outs by mainstream Muslims, but because they are at the fingertips of their neo-con masters. Little do they realise that they are in fact selling their afterlife to forward the worldly agenda of someone else. The orthodox Muslim, apart from being scorned at, is inherently seen as principled and resilient. Those who follow the example of the companions are winners in every sense, and in this article we outline just some of their ‘prizes’.

1 – The one who chooses the side of the companions and sticks to their understanding will be closest in knowing what Allāh wants from him

Is this not the dream of every Muslim? To know precisely what Allāh wants from you so that your worship of Him is correct and so that your understanding is most precise? The companions were in darkness but since it was the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) who personally showed them the direction to the straight path, their awareness of its true nature is unmatched! Allāh says,

“And thus did We reveal to you an inspired book by Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor what the faith was, but We made it a light, guiding thereby whom We please of Our servants; and most surely you show the way to the right path.”[1]

Thus, no one is more aware of the reality of this straight path than the companions since their teacher was he who was taught by Allāh.

2 – Retreating to their understanding is one of the most effective ways of treating the illness of innovations

Yes, the innovators will have evidences, many of which are authentic in and of themselves, but their meanings are twisted until they are made to support their ideas. How do we remedy this? By asking such an individual, “Was this Abū Bakr’s understanding of this verse?” “Was this ʿUmar’s understanding of this Hadith?” “Was this how the Salaf interpreted this text?” Thus we use their understanding as a benchmark, causing the Sunnah to become apparent from the Bid’ah.

For this reason, we saw the companion Ibnu ‘Abbas, when he went to debate a group of innovators, the Khawaarij who’d defected from ʿAlĪ’s army (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu), he said to them:

“I have come to you from the leader of the believers (‘Ali Ibnu Abi Taalib) and from the companions of the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and I do not see any of them amongst you.”[2]

A beautiful and polite way of reminding them that none of the companions of the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), who are most aware of the Shari’ah, are upon your understanding. This is where and precisely whyyou went wrong, becauseyou are following none of the companions!

3 – Retreating to their understanding will protect the Muslims from dividing and then fighting

One day, ʿUmar (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu) was alone contemplating, then he sent for ‘Ibnu ʿAbbas to ask him:

“How can this Ummah disunite whilst they read from the same book, they believe in the same prophet and they pray in the same direction?!” He responded, “O leader of the believers, the Qur’ān was revealed and we read it and understood it. But there will be a people who will come after us who will read the Qur’ān but not understand it and so they will develop different ideas. Then they will begin to differ with one another and when they differ, they will fight one another.”[3]

Every group has its own ideas which it insists are the absolute truth! How can we then agree? Why should I accept your understanding? And why should you accept mine? People will not budge. But when we make the understanding of the Salaf our judge and reference, then this will be a chief way of resolving disputes.

4 – Retreating to their understanding brings about a tremendous sense of comfort and peace of mind

Whenever one realises that he is taking his understanding from them, all doubts are cast aside and absolute surety within you is born! There is no more hesitancy and no worry of being wrong. The people who will testify to the significance of this particular prize are those who have tasted the bitterness of being confused and in doubt.

Abū ʿAbdillāh, Moḥammad b. ʿUmar Ar Rāzi (‘Fakhru Deen Ar Razi’) – who was from the Ashā’ira, a group that insisted that their logic be given precedence to the Islamic texts, said towards the end of his life:

“We saw from his books calamities and major errors, reference to magic and deviances from the Sunnah, but we ask Allāh to forgive him for he died in a good state and Allāh is most aware of what is hidden.”

“I have dived into a very deep sea and I moved away from the people of Islām and their sciences and I immersed myself in that which I was told not to and now, if my Lord does not have mercy upon me, then woe to me! And after all these years, I find myself dyeing upon the ‘Aqīda of my mother.”

Meaning after all those years of study, I have gone back to the simple ‘Aqīda of my mother, the same ‘Aqīda as that of the companions! Similar to this is the statement of Shams ad Deen al Khusrawshahi, of whose most prominent students were Fakhru Deen Ar Razi. Once, addressing one of his students he said:

“What ‘Aqīdahdo you attest to?” His student replied: “The ‘Aqīdahthat the Muslims attest to.” He said: “Are you content with it, and sure about it?” He said: “yes”. He said: “You must thank Allāh for this blessing! As for me, by Allāh, I do not know what ‘Aqīdah I attest to, by Allāh, I do not know what ‘Aqīdah I attest to” and he wept until he soaked his beard.

“And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment. On the Day some faces will turn white and some faces will turn black.”[4]

“The Jews split into seventy one sects, and the Christians split into seventy two sects. This Ummah (nation) will split into seventy three sects, all of whom will be in the Fire apart from one.” It was said, “Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Those who follow the same path as I and my companions follow.”[6]

The path of the Prophet and his companions. Call it fundamental, ‘backwards’, ‘outdated’, ‘medieval’, or whatever next, it is the path of safety and the way to Allāh, regardless of whomever may hate it or lambast the followers of it. May we live upon this path, die upon it, and meet Allāh attesting to it.

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/fruits-of-following-the-sahaba/feed/119652Looking Backward to go Forwardhttps://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/looking-backward-to-go-forward/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/looking-backward-to-go-forward/#commentsSat, 24 Oct 2015 09:39:45 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=19541With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam). The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions Part 4 ...

]]>With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam).

The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions

Part 4

Many evidences in the Sharīʿah obligate the adoption of the understanding of the earliest generations, and call on Muslims to retreat to them particularly during times of dissension. Some of these evidences are explicit and others are implicit. This is the objective of our fourth article in this series, to show that it is not just logical, better and brings about more Barakah, but an obligation upon every Muslim to follow the earliest, so called ‘Orthodox’ understanding of Islām!

“And as for the foremost to embrace Islām of the Muhājirūn (the Migrants) and the Anṣār (the Helpers) and also those who followed them exactly (in Faith) Allāh is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), to dwell therein forever. That is the supreme success.”[1]

This praise which they received from Allāh means that what they were upon of belief and actions were correct and brought about His pleasure. Thus Imām Mālik (raḥimahu Allāhu) used this Āyah to prove the obligation of returning to their understanding as did Ibnul Qayyim (raḥimahu Allāhu). In fact this was just one of 46 evidences which Ibnul Qayyim (raḥimahu Allāhu) listed in his book I’laamul Muwaqqi’een to prove the obligation of following their opinions!

“So if they believe in the same as you believe in, then they have been (rightly) guided; but if they turn away, then they are only in dissension.”[2]

Thus guidance has been restricted by the condition ‘if’ to following their example. True guidance is only attained when one’s beliefs are in accordance to the belief of the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and his companions and thus the ideal Īmān is when it resembles the Īmān of the companions.[3]

If at all any doubt remains in the conclusion that has just been drawn, then consider the following verse, and ask yourself, who else could it possibly refer to when it was revealed in their midst? Allāh says,

“And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers – We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination.”[4]

The worthiest people of being described as “the believers” – as mentioned in the Āyah above – are the companions. Ibn Kathīr states in at least two places of his Tafsīr, that their consensus has been given the level of infallibility as a way of honouring them, and to revere their teacher, Muḥammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam).

“Verily he among you who lives long will see great controversy, so you must keep to my Sunnahand to the Sunnah of the Khulafā’ ar-Rāshidīn (the rightly guided caliphs), those who guide to the right way. Cling to it stubbornly [literally: with your molar teeth]. Beware of newly invented matters (in the religion), for verily every Bidʿah (innovation) is misguidance.”[5]

In another Ḥadīth on the authority of Abī Wāqid al Laythy (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu), the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) once said:

“The people of my generation are the best, then those who follow them, and then those who follow the latter. After that there will come some people whose witness will go ahead of their oaths, and their oaths will go ahead of their witness.”[7]

Bearing this Ḥadīth in mind, one may ask: How much real ‘enlightenment’ has been lost, being the Nth generation after the companions?!

After looking at some of the Āyāt and Aḥādīth in this regard, we move on to some of the statements of the scholars.

“They are above us in every aspect of knowledge, Ijtihād[9], abstinence, rational, matters of knowledge and its derivations. Their opinions are more praiseworthy and worthier of being adhered to then our own.”[10]

“If in that generation something was not considered to be part of the religion, then it will never become part of the religion today. Nothing will rectify the final generations in this Ummah except what rectified its foremost”.[11]

“Our opinion, which is what we believe to be Deen, is to (1) Cling on to the book of Allāh Most High, (2) To cling on to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muḥammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and (3)To cling on to what was reported from the Companions and their successors (al Tabiʿīn) and the scholars of Ḥadīth. On this we will continue to hold on tightly.[13]

To some it may sound strange to posit that we, as Muslims, need to look ‘backwards’ to go forwards! But actually, it is not strange at all. The only reason why ideologies and theories other than Islām need ‘developing’ is because of their deficiency to begin with. With Islām however, the source is Allāh, Who is free from defect and as for the recipient, it was the Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) and a community of saints. Thus true progression, advancement and enlightenment is when we retreat to their ways.

After having established the necessity of doing so, we will discuss in the next article the many benefits and prizes that comes with doing so.

]]>https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/looking-backward-to-go-forward/feed/619541Why follow the ‘old’ path?https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/why-follow-the-old-path/
https://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/why-follow-the-old-path/#commentsThu, 15 Oct 2015 08:39:04 +0000http://www.islam21c.com/?p=19447With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam). The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions Part 3 ...

]]>With terms such as ‘salaf’ and ‘salafism’ having become highly politicised and sensationalised in the public domain, Ustadh Ali Hammuda separates fact from fiction in this series demystifying the status and authority of the constitutive and interpretive “Understanding of the Companions” of the Messenger of God (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam).

The Authority of the Understanding of the Companions

Part 3

Backwards, ‘outdated’, ‘non-compatible’, ‘fundamentalists’… How often do we hear these terms spurted out at the Muslim community for following its ‘old ways’ in religious matters? Has the understanding of Islam really degenerated whilst the world becomes more sophisticated and advanced? Why is such authority given to the understanding of the ‘men of old’, whilst new philosophies are discounted as ‘innovation’, ‘corruption’ and ‘unfounded’? In our previous article we presented a number of compelling reasons why Muslims choose the understanding of the first three generations of Muslims over their very own and here we continue with even more.

They were the most competent when it come to the Language of the Qur’an, as it was revealed in their Language

History has never witnessed a people who were more eloquent and better in expressing themselves than the Arabs who lived in those early generations, for their linguistic talents were not acquired at academies but it was their day to day speech.

Imām Ash-Shātibi says, stating one of the reasons why their understanding is to be given precedence:

The companions, the Tābiʿīn and the Tabiʿ Tābiʿīn[4] are the worthiest of all of these characteristics for they possessed the greatest Farāsah or intuition, the soundest minds, the most precise of opinions and some of them were Muhaddathūn or inspired to speak the truth, as testified to by the Messenger of Allāh. Thus the Qur’ān would at times be revealed confirming their opinions, like in the case of ʿUmar on several occasions. Because of this unmatched Barakah existing among the Prophetic community, Ibnu Masʿūd would say,

“Whoever among you wishes to follow someone, let him follow the ones who have died, for the one who is still alive is not safe from Fitnah[5]. They are the companions of Prophet Muhammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)! They were the best of this Ummah, possessing the most righteous of hearts and the deepest of knowledge and were the most straightforward of people. They were those whom Allāh chose to accompany His Prophet and establish His religion. So acknowledge their virtue and follow in their footsteps, and adhere as much as you can to their morals and religion, for they were upon the correct guidance.”[6]

In fact, our Salaf were not only more blessed than all others in respect to the understanding of the religious texts, but were more blessed even with respect to war and conquests.

“Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said, “A time will come upon the people, when a group of people will wage a battle and it will be said, ‘Is there amongst you anyone who has accompanied Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)?’ They will say, ‘Yes.’ And so victory will be bestowed on them. Then a time will come upon the people when a group of people will wage a battle, and it will be said, “Is there amongst you anyone who has accompanied the companions of Allāh’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)?’ They will say, ‘Yes.’ And so victory will be bestowed on them. Then a time will come upon the people when a group of people will wage a battle, and it will be said, “Is there amongst you anyone who has been in the company of the companions of the companions of Allah’s Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)?’ They will say, ‘Yes.’ And victory will be bestowed on them.”[7]

The same way that Allāh allowed them to open up lands, He (subḥānahu wa taʿālā) had also opened up their hearts to understand revelation. They were the most blessed of all people.

Because of the way in which they received revelation, their enthusiasm for knowledge, their eagerness to practice what they had learnt and their natural proficiency in the Arabic language. They were the blessed of all people and their understanding surpasses all other understandings

“The companions possessed an understanding of the Qur’ān which the majority who came afterwards lack, just as they possessed an understanding of the Sunnah and the way of the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) which the majority who came afterwards lack. For they witnessed the Prophet, the revelation and comprehended his sayings, actions and conduct.”[8]

“They are the most established of people when it comes to understanding events as they unfolded as well as the reasons behind revelation and thus they will understand things in ways which others will not understand. The one who is present will always see things differently to the one who was absent.”[10]

Allow me to give you an example of how the understanding of those who witnessed cannot be compared to those who did not. The Āyah,

“And spend in the way of Allāh and do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction,”[11] is clear with no complicated words!

Abū Ayyūb, the companion, saw a man who jumped into the lines of the enemies when they were trying to conquer Constantinople without fear. So one of the Muslim soldiers said,

لا إله إلا الله … يلقي بنفسه إلى التهلكة

Abū Ayyūb informed him that this was the wrong understanding of this Ayah. He explained to him the context of the revelation of this Āyah and then told him,

الإلقاء بالأيدي إلى التهلكة أن نقيم في أموالنا ونصلحها وندع الجهاد

“Throwing one’s self into destruction is when we settle down amidst our wealth to attend to it and thus causing us to forsake Jihād.”[12] So Abū Ayyūb’s first hand source of information enabled him to attain the correct meaning as intended by Allāh, inaccessible to the former.

So after establishing the authority of the most orthodox understanding of Islām, adopted and disseminated by the Prophet, his companions and the succeeding early generations, the pivotal question remains; what ruling has the Sharīʿah attached to following them? Even if their understanding is better than mine, is it not sufficient that I follow my own interpretation of Islām, or one on-par with ‘modernity’? Finally, what is in it for me if I succeed in treading their steps? All this, in shāAllāh will be addressed in the next article of this series, walḥamdulli rabil ʿālamīn.

[5] Specifically referring to becoming misguided after being guided. There is no guarantee that someone alive will remain guided until his death, whilst those whom have died upon guidance have this guarantee.

[6] According to ibnu ‘Abdil Barr, this statement is also attributed to Ibnu ‘Umar and Al-Hasan Al-Basri.